Jobs
are out there; we just have to look harder
By
Dhiya Reyes
On-line Forty-Niner
Now
that graduation is here, many graduates
are wondering what’s next for them.
It’s finally time to step into the
real world to find what they’ve been
working so hard for in the last four years:
a job after graduation.
For
the graduating class of 2004, the job outlook
is much different than it was a few years
ago. The job market used to be booming due
to an exploding technical sector and an
expanding economy. Unfortunately, an economic
slump then followed. However, with the economy
now recovering, the good thing is that there
are still jobs out there. With the help
of the Career Development Center, graduating
seniors can find those jobs available to
them.
According
to the California Employment Development
Department, Labor Market Information Division,
employment in California will grow about
1 percent, adding 142,000 jobs to the market.
This is much less than the average growth
of 1.8 percent over the last ten years as
well as the 3.5 percent growth in 2000.
However, an additional 364,000 jobs are
expected to become available due to retirement
or career change.
Occupations
that experienced the highest percentage
increase were computer and mathematical
occupations, according to the employment
development department, with a 4.2 percent
growth from 2002 to 2004.
Examples
of occupations in this group include computer
programmers, software engineers and computer
support specialists. These are the largest
and fastest growing occupations that require
two to four year degrees.
The National Association of Colleges and
Employers released a job outlook for 2004
which showed that employers predict they
will hire 12.7 more new college graduates
this year. However, even though the job
market for this year’s graduates is
better than it has been for the past two
years, almost three out of five employers
claim that they believe the job market for
graduates will only be fair.
Nationally,
the service industry has the best outlook
among employers. According to the association,
service employers plan to hire 22.2 percent
more new graduates this year compared to
last year. Most have reported that they
plan on hiring through campus recruiting
this spring. The top five majors targeted
by service employers are business administration,
accounting, economics/finance, management
information systems and computer science.
The
association conducted a survey of the top
10 places employers found new hires. The
company’s internship program, the
company’s co-op program, on-campus
interviews, employee referrals and career/job
fairs made the top five. Job postings to
career centers and student clubs and organizations
were included in the bottom five.
The
Career Development Center at Cal State Long
Beach is a valuable asset, offering many
opportunities that are at the top of the
survey results. The Center assists students
in contacting and establishing a relationship
with prospective employers. It also hold
various events throughout the semester such
as career workshops, on-campus interviews
and job fairs.
In
order for the Center to get an idea of what
the market will be like for graduates, it
relies on statistics from the association
of colleges and employers as well as the
Department of Labor Statistics and the Employment
Development Department, according to Paul
Fornell, assistant director of the Center.
According
to Fornell, there is no way to formally
track the number of students who find jobs
through the Center. The Center used to send
out paper surveys to graduates, Fornell
said, but less than 20 percent of those
surveys made their way back to the Center.
They are now moving toward doing an online
survey in hopes that more graduates will
respond to an e-mail survey that can just
be e-mailed back.
Among
the many events that the Center holds, on-campus
interviews are the best for one-on-one sessions
with employers. Employers set up these interviews
on campus in the Center. Graduating seniors
can sign up for these interviews online.
Some interviews are open to all students
of all majors and others are geared toward
seniors with specific majors. Peggy Murphy
Hayden, the coordinator for on-campus interviews,
conducted a poll last spring of 65 employers
that participated in on-campus interviews.
With those 65 employers, 400 students participated
in on-campus interviews. Seventy job offers
were made in two months. This means that
one out of every six students interviews
resulted in a job offer.
Job
fairs are held three to five times a year.
According to Phyllis Milani, coordinator
for career events, there is one all-purpose
job fair each semester, then a few more
focused job fairs as well. This semester,
the Center hosted a science and technology
and engineering fair as well as a diversity
career expo. The center sends out e-mails
to businesses telling them that CSULB is
holding a job fair, then those businesses
contact the Center to participate. Since
there is no formal way of tracking how many
students receive job offers at job fairs,
this is how the Center knows its successful
in helping students find jobs. The companies
come back year after year.
The
Center does pass out evaluation forms to
employers that participate in the job fair,
Milani said. One thing that comes up on
the evaluation forms year after year is
that employers wish that students would
come to the job fairs better prepared.
The
Center also holds workshops focusing on
interview skills, resumes, etiquette and
dressing to impress. On average, there are
about 12 students to a workshop along with
one career counselor and one program director,
Fornell said.
One
aspect of the Cente that many students are
unaware of is a job posting Web site that
is available to CSULB students called MonsterTrak.
MonsterTrak is an affiliation of Monster.com,
the online job posting Web site, but is
geared toward recent college graduates.
Many of the jobs posted are entry-level
positions, Hayden said. These are jobs that
employers want CSULB graduates to see. Employers
who post online listings choose several
schools that they want their postings to
be viewed by.
Fornell
said he thinks that many students are unaware
of the opportunities that are available
to them by the Center. The CDC works hard
with the resources that they have to help
students become more aware of the opportunities
available to them. Millions of people have
accessed the Center’s Web site. Last
year alone, there were seven to eight million
hits, Fornell said. More than 80,000 people
walked through the Center’s doors
last year for activities, appointments with
career counselors and to use the Resource
Library.
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